Park Theatre
69 Park Place,
Morristown,
NJ
07960
69 Park Place,
Morristown,
NJ
07960
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 14 comments
glen1949 As I recall, when the original Park Theater closed around 1970, it relocated to Washington Street (not Avenue, which I used to live on), in the spot you mentioned. I think it was still called the Park Theater at that time, but it didn’t last long.
Spent many Saturdays at the “Park” theater in the 50’s and 60’s. And the Community but what was the name of the other theater in town ? On Washington Ave across the street for the NY Tea Garden.
As a lad, I went with my mother to the Park Theater to see Mary Poppins. It was a nice location, across from the center square, which is locally called “The Green”. Therefore, it would have been correct to describe the Theaters location as being “on The Green”, even though it was accross from it. A large office building was built in it’s place, that was prominantly marked “AT&T”.
I worked as an usher at the Park Theater in the mid 1960s. Our protocol after the movie began was to walk down the aisle backward in front of the customer, shining a flashlight down on their path so they could see where they were walking. We had uniforms and everything.
Being originally constructed as a traditional theater, the fly area back stage was enormous. I remember the eerily quiet and abandoned dressing rooms underneath the stage. The stage loading door was large enough to back a truck into, and I was told that in the old vaudeville days when the Park was really hopping, they had all kinds of acts on stage, including a circus show with elephants and all. Just a real classic of a theater, with a large balcony that was hardly ever used.
Old photos:
View link
David, it was so many years ago I can hardly remember. “Sound Barrier” was a classic, and I would watch it again today if it showed up on TV.
Mike
Michaetira,
Was Breaking the Sound Barrier as good on television as it was on the screen of the Park?? If I remember Breaking the Sound Barrier was a British picture with Ralp Richardson as the star. Richardson won all kinds of awards for his acting in the film.
The Park was beloved by us kids in the 1950s for its Saturday afternoon triple features, plus cartoons and shorts, that provided many hours of entertainment for a quarter. My favorite memory is that of seeing “Breaking Through the Sound Barrier,” a movie I really wanted to see badly, as the last of three movies of the day. Unfortunately, it ran past six o'clock, and I had been ordered to be home for supper long before then. During the movie, my father showed up, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and dragged me home. I did not forgive him for making me miss that movie until I saw it on TV many years later!
The Park was torn down somewhere around 1970 to make room for an office building call “1776 On The Green”.
Here are some pictures of that office building.
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=124391
Old postcard from 1920:
View link
Listed in the 1944 FDY. Listed as a Walter Reade Theatre in the 1956 Film Daily Yearbook.
Listed as a “Florin” theater in March 1969 when it showed 2001 (courtesy of Bill Huelbig):
View link
May have initially been built as “Lyons Park” theater in 1915.
Still open in 1967 as the “New Park”:
View link
Courtesy of Bill Huelbig’s post on Theater 4309